I was expecting something to happen sooner rather than later. The manga is only 10 volumes( were already midway in scanlations) so the timing of it didn't shock me very much. It did come across a little sudden but I don't think it was out of character or anything like that.

I am extremely glad that there was no build up..though its hard to imagine how the author is going to bring up the issue of romance properly...kissing is way overrated in mangas but by demographics and cultural inferences or perhaps the age group itself- first kiss and what not are dealt on for pages and pages...I would like a gentle-slip-into-romance - like Touya seems favourably capable of leading our hard working heroine into...I just love how the main issue is the world of creating drama and stage plays etc and would really hate a turn into some skip beat-reminiscent-childish-brooding-of-romance plot which is just so afternoon soap opera-ish...

I was surprised! But I'm still happy with the way it was done - it was like an early Christmas present lol. And it actually makes sense that neither Ichii nor Yuu made a huge deal out of it; they're busy, driven professionals that are so completely absorbed in their work that they don't have the time to moon over each other to the exclusion of all else, like in so much romance manga.

In particular I think Yuu didn't make a big deal out of it because she just saw it as a "power up" thing and not as a sign of her feelings being returned... Of course they ARE being returned lol, but she doesn't know it; as far as she's concerned nothing has changed particularly in her relationship with Ichii. So of course she didn't react more strongly - she sees the kiss as a sweet act of encouragement but nothing actually romantic. She's happy about it of course but is not drawing any further conclusions from it or going into glittery shoujo ecstasies. Heh! After all Ichii himself said earlier that he wasn't interested in any kind of relationship because acting was the only thing in his life, right? And directing/writing is the main thing in Yuu's life too, so no biggie. Plus even if he WAS interested in romance with anyone at all, I don't think that Yuu really thinks of herself as a candidate. Which is something she is shortly going to discover is a gross underestimation of Ichii's affection for her lol. <3